Mermaids
by wisedomsdaughter
Summary: Dedicated to ChocolateIsMyDoom and ChaosReincarnate as a thank-you for being the nicest authors who can put up with my craziness. Thanks, guys!


**[As mentioned, this story I dedicated to ChocolateIsMyDoom and ChaosReincarnate for being so nice to me. Check them out, and enjoy!]**

From a very young age, Piper had been told thousands of stories about mermaids - of when they were good, and when they were bad. She had an entire book of stories about Cherokee mermaids, and had multiple mermaid drawings she kept pinned on her bedroom walls. Her grandfather Tom would always recount the one he had seen a real mermaid to her whenever she and her dad visited him.

In truth, Piper doubted the existence of mermaids. She found the mermaid stories fascinating and enjoyed reading about them, but real? Alive? The U.S. Government already said that they had proved the mermaids didn't exist, and no one had any real records of finding mermaids, so how was anyone to prove that they really existed?

Grandpa Tom had lived right next to the beach. His old wooden shed of a home sunk right into the sand, and if you just looked out the window, you could see the waves lapping at the shore.

Whenever Piper and her dad visited Grandpa Tom, the first place Piper would go was the dock. She'd run down the beach, past the black rocks of the cliff and go even farther until the sand turned into smooth pebbles. It was peaceful there, with just her and her thoughts, but Piper would go even further until she reached the dock.

The dock itself was nothing special; it was made of round logs and rotting rope, algae covered a good half of it, and if you took a wrong step, logs might collapse beneath you because it really was that old. The water there, though, was unlike any other, and it was part of the reason Piper would love going there.

The water at the dock was completely clear, and rocked with small waves. The sun would often shine down upon the small waves and they would light up, sparkling.

If you delved deeper underwater, you would see spotlights from the sunlight illuminating flowing seaweed, colorful and timid fishes and corals without even having to go underwater; once, Piper swore she saw a baby manta ray.

The other reason she visited the dock all the time was because Grandpa atom claimed he saw the mermaid there, he'd brought her to the dock and told her of the mermaid: cocoa colored skin, a shiny silver tail, gorgeous long hair swished into a braid atop her head.

"She was the picture of beauty," Grandpa Tom had said. "She had a heart shaped face and a pair of rosy-pink lips. When I saw her, I thought I saw a goddess."

Now, even at her age, Piper wondered if he were telling the truth, and although she wouldn't admit it, she came to the dock six times a month to search for mermaids.

After all the drama of saving the world and everything, her dad brought her to the dock again, accompanied by goggles and a snorkel.

"So you can search for mermaids," he winked. "I'll wait for you here." So for the first time, Piper stepped onto the dock, strapped on her goggles, carefully attached here snorkel to here faced and waded into the water.

Sand clouds formed under her feet and swirled around her in slow motion. Everything blurry she saw from the dock was now clear. She could feel the gentle slope of the sand as she walked deeper underwater, breathing through her snorkel. She watched the underwater world in wide-eyed rapture, envying Percy, who could do this all the time and see things even deeper underwater.

Piper soon began to swim once she couldn't walk deeper without her snorkel being submerged. She kicked randomly, paddled swiftly, and played like a little girl again. She even attempts to do the 'mermaid' swim, laughing when she got herself nowhere.

Still, she felt just a little bit disappointed when she saw no mermaids, she hadn't really expected to find one, really, but it would have been pretty cool.

Resurfacing, she waved at her dad, who sat safely on the shore reading newspapers. He waved back. She turned around, preparing to dive underwater again, and saw a glistening silver tail disappear underwater.

She still did not know if it really were a mermaid, but Percy insisted that mermaids did exist, and it could very likely have been one. Whatever. It didn't matter. She'd take Percy's word for mermaids.

**[I apologize for anything Cherokee-related things that are incorrect.]**


End file.
